Jal Satyagraha: NHRC seeks reply from chief secretary

Taking suo motu cognisance on Jal Satygrah and the problems of oustees of Omkareshwar dam, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the chief secretary of Madhya Pradesh and sought all details of the project.

Taking suo motu cognisance on Jal Satyagraha and the problems of oustees of Omkareshwar dam, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the chief secretary of Madhya Pradesh and sought all details of the project.

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The NHRC has given four weeks time to the state government to submit its reply.

Joint registrar NHRC, Anil Parashar, while talking to HT said, “An order of the suo motto cognizance has been sent to the chief secretary on Tuesday.”

He further said that the NHRC has sought details of demands of the affected people, the rehabilitation programme and package given to them. “The problem in Omkareshwar is grave and the NHRC has sought all the details about the problem going on there,” Parashar added.

Total 51 oustees of Ghogalgaon and other nearby villagers had stood in water for 17 days demanding decrease in water level of the dam and compensation as per Supreme Court guidelines.

The Jal Satyagraha ended when the state government accepted all the demands of the agitators.

Earlier, the Asian Human Rights Commission had also written to the NHRC to take cognizance of the issue.

The 520 MW Omkareshwar project is one of the several big dams on the Narmada River, built by the Narmada Hydroelectric Development Corporation a joint venture between NHPC Ltd and the government of Madhya Pradesh. The protesters say increasing the water level in the dam would submerge their lands spread across several villages and alleged that the state government has failed to provide compensation as per the Supreme Court ruling. The Madhya Pradesh government has also formed a three-member ministerial panel to look into the matter. The panel comprises of ministers Kailash Vijayvargiya, Vijay Shah and KL Aggarwal.